NXstage_lab¶
Status:
base class, extends NXobject
Description:
Candidate class for a component or a set of components which is coarse-grained into one logical unit. The role of the stage in an experiment is to hold/align/orient the sample/specimen and eventually offer a controlled environment and further devices to apply stimuli. Having an own candidate class is justified as contemporary specimen/sample stages are such multi-purpose/-functional tools with multiple actuators, sensors, components, and thus also the need to store the various (meta)data that are generated with manipulating the sample. Modern stages realize a hierarchy of components for achieving these tasks. For example the specimen might be mounted on a multi-axial tilt rotation holders which itself is fixed in the support unit that connects to the microscope. In other examples, taken from atom probe microscopy for instance, researchers may work with wire samples which are clipped into a larger fixing unit for convenience. This unit is known in atom probe jargon as a stub. Stubs in turn are positioned on pucks. Pucks are then loaded onto carousels. This NXstage class reflects two layers of this hierarchy. The stage is the root of the hierarchy. A stage carries the holder. In the case that it is not practical to distinguish these two layers, the holder should be given preference. Applied to examples, a nanoparticle is attached on a copper grid. The copper grid is the holder. The grid itself is fixed to the stage. An atom probe specimen is fixed in a stub, in this case the stub can be considered as the holder, while the cryostat temperature control unit reads more as the stage. A microtip on a microtip array is an example of a three-layer hierarchy commonly employed for efficient sequential processing of atom probe experiments. For a single experiment though only one microtip of the array at a time can be measured. Therefore, the microtip is the specimen, the array the holder and the remaining mounting unit that is attached to the cryo-controller the stage. To cover for an as flexible design of these complex lab-like modern stages users should nest NXstage_lab objects for reflect the differences between e.g. a holder and a stage.
Symbols:
No symbol table
- Groups cited:
Structure:
design: (optional) NX_CHAR
Principal design of the stage.
Any of these values:
side entry
top entry
single tilt
quick change
multiple specimen
bulk specimen
double tilt
tilt rotate
heating chip
atmosphere chip
electrical-biasing chip
liquid-cell chipname: (optional) NX_CHAR
Given name.
model: (optional) NX_CHAR
Given brand or model name by the manufacturer.
serial_number: (optional) NX_CHAR
Given hardware name/serial number or hash identifier issued by the manufacturer.
manufacturer_name: (optional) NX_CHAR
Given name of the manufacturer.
description: (optional) NX_CHAR
Ideally a link to a (globally persistent) unique identifier which documents or can be used to infer further details of the component. If not available use this field for a free text description to give further details to the stage.
TRANSFORMATIONS: (optional) NXtransformations
Set of transformations which describe how the stage-affixed coordinate system is defined and how it has to be transformed so that it aligns with the specimen coordinate system.
POSITIONER: (optional) NXpositioner
Hypertext Anchors¶
Table of hypertext anchors for all groups, fields, attributes, and links defined in this class.
documentation (reST source) anchor |
web page (HTML) anchor |
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